Article 7 is right to protection against torture Torture and forced confessions are prohibited in Islam1. Torture is anything which harms a person physically through mutilation or severe pain or mentally, not prescribed by the law. If a criticism is raised that Prophet's severe punishment to the apostates was a form of torture then the reply is in two ways: First it was the law at that time. According to scholars Mosaic law was implemented on them, which is the law for eye for an eye. This law was abrogated by the hadith “There is no capital requital except by the sword”2 Also if a witness was withholding vital evidence whose absence would harm the victim then such a witness could be forced to given evidence without torture due to the fact that the right of another would have been violated.3 Now this command of performing the act of giving evidence has been disagreed upon by scholars4. Some said the witness must carry the evidence when he/she is in the act of witnessing a crime. Second the witness must perform the act only when the judge asks. To me the latter is preferred view because it is of less burden and Islam has come to lessen our burden contrast to the Mosaic laws. 1 Allah tortures those who torture the people in this life (Muslim) 2Narrated by five companions : Ibn Masud, Ali, Abu Huraira and others.3Holy Quran 2:2824Tafsir Al-Kabeer by Imam Fakhr Din Razi Al-Ashari.